law unto oneself

Noun

law unto oneself (countable and uncountable, plural laws unto themselves)

1. One who is free from the constraints of law or rules.
   • If you take away the Law, all things will fall into a Confuſion, every Man will become a law unto himſelf; which, in the depraved Condition of Human Nature, muſt needs produce many great Enormities.1707, Edward Earl of Clarendon [i.e., Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon], quoting Charles I of England, The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], volume I...
   • The noiseless leaping forward of the canoe beneath him heightened his sense of breaking with the past and hastening onward into another life. In that life he would be a new creature, free to be a law unto himself.1910, Basil King, chapter VI, in The Wild Olive: A Novel, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, part I (Ford), page 65
2. One who flouts the law or conventional wisdom; one who ignores rules or logic to behave according to his or her own standards.
   • [T]he law was made to oppress the colored race, so I snapped my finger at the law, an' resolved to come up with it every time I got a chance. I would be a higher law unto myself; for if a white man, when he was wronged, was justified in rightin' himself, even to the takin' of life, I, bein' no whit...1864 December, “City Cousins”, in J. Holmes Agnew, editor, The American Monthly Knickerbocker, Devoted to Literature, Art, Science, and Politics, volume LXIV, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Published at...
   • Can a man excuse his practices to the contrary because of his religious belief? To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.1879 January 6, Morrison Waite, Chief Justice, “Reynolds v. United States”, in United States Reports (98 U.S. 145), volume 98, Washington, D.C.: Supreme Court of the United States, archived from the...
3. (dated) One who is lawful in the absence of an enforced law; one who behaves with integrity.
   • For when the Gentiles which haue not the Law, doe by nature the things contained in the Law: theſe hauing not the Law, are a Law vnto themſelues.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 2:14, column 2
   • The arguments by which he [Paul the Apostle] establishes his proposition are two. The first is:– / Those who are a law unto themselves are not without law: / The Gentiles are a law unto themselves: / Therefore they are not without law. / The assumption is thus proved:– / Those who, having not the...1850, Charles Ferme [i.e., Charles Ferm]; Andrew Melville, translated by William Skae, edited by William Lindsay Alexander, A Logical Analysis of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, … Translated from...